IT’S been four years since the last World Netball Championships (WNC) in Auckland, New Zealand and Sunshine Girl Paula Thompson is eagerly awaiting the next one in Singapore in July.

The slender player was the 21-year-old ‘new kid on the block’ back in 2007.

“I’m very excited and geared up for this World Championship and now that I have more experience playing in a number of international games I think I will definitely do better,” she told the Observer.

“In 2007, I was much younger. I just wanted to play at that point. Once I got the chance on court I just wanted to go, go, go,” Thompson recalled of her rookie year as a national player.

“Every ball come I just wanted to go at it, but this time around I have experience and I know that I will be on the court.”

Back then, Thompson was also a wing defence, but has since made the transition to the centre position where she feels she can make more of an impact.

“I feel comfortable anywhere; we have numerous defenders and they’re good and they’re much taller than I am, so I think centre is

the best position for me right now.

“I did not understand the role that much when I first started playing centre, but I understand the role much better since Jill (McIntosh) came here,” she added in reference to the team’s technical director, who started working with the girls extensively in March.

Thompson, who represents Waulgrovians in the Berger Super League, also has her team captain and fellow centre player Nadine Bryan to look towards for the guidance she needs in her new role on court.

Thompson, a teacher of physical education at St Andrew High School, is also mother to seven-year-old Lepaul, who lives in her home parish of Clarendon, and she told the Observer about how much she misses him having to be away from him so often, especially these days with the intensified training programme.

“I have to sacrifice my family because of my commitment to netball. Normally I would travel to and fro but because we’re training on Saturdays now… it is very challenging,” she shared.

“At times he will call and say, ‘Mommy, please come home’, or at times if I go home on a Friday and have to come back on a Saturday, he will cry and say, ‘Mommy, why do you have to leave? Can you please stay until Sunday?’ and I say, ‘Lepaul’ Mommy must go’.”

Said Thompson: “I miss everything about him. Especially at weekends when I go home, he’s always in the bed with me and he’s just always talking to me and I miss all that, but what can I do for now?”

She added that the national responsibilities take a toll at work as well: “It affects me sometimes because I really miss my students and I know they miss me.”

Despite the emotional ties, however, Thompson has high hopes for the journey to South East Asia this summer.

“This World Championship we have been doing things. Our training is different, so we expect results this time around,” she said as the team prepares to participate in the 2011 WNC from July 3-10.

“I do feel nervous at times, but we’re just taking it one step at a time, being very humble and knowing the top countries are coming down really hard, so it will not be a walk-over,” she added.